Building and furniture projects

Here are some examples of customized designs for furniture and building projects

The Bar

If you have a building

project in mind and need

design work or are
interested in hand made,
totally unique furniture such
as that which is pictured here, please contact me to
discuss my reasonable rates

The top itself is piece of 3/4 in. plywood cut in an L shape and framed with pine to form a bed for the post-consumer bottle caps of which there are over 1,500 arranged in a sunset design. They were laboriously attached by carefully gluing around each cap without getting any glue on the top of the caps. After drying, this process was repeated three more times until the level of the dried glue rose to near the top of the bottle caps. About 20 coats of polyurathane was then applied to the bar surface and rails giving the surface a pleasing rippled texture and the rails a smooth finnish for the elbows

I made this bar for fun a couple of years ago.
I wanted something portable yet very sturdy
(it will support several people dancing on it,
we tested) and to have a unique surface
and a time-worn look. It disassembles
into three main sections

Home bartop made from over 1,600 bottle caps

The view from behind the bar, complete with wine glass racks, interior lights, and stereo

All locked up

The Deck

I designed and built this deck a few years back. It has three sets of stairs, built in benches and a custom fit table

A three-quarter view from the yard in wintertime

The main staircase

The lower screens are all custom fit and hand made from recycled wood

The short stairs leads to the barbeque area

Ample room for outdoor fun

The deck wraps around the house and chimney to the back stairs leading into the garden

The table was made from the leftover wood but is my favorite part of the deck. It is perhaps its most unique feature

The table fits exactly within the benches and and follows the design theme of using 45° angles throughtout

Wherever possible joints were counter sunk to greatly increase strength and stability and enhance the overall look

This corner was done with tabs cut into the 2x4s that notch into the 4x4 post. It was so strong when it was tapped together that I didn't even need deck screws. I added them anyway

The Chairs

I've always loved Adirondack chairs and finally got around to making some of my own. Although I can't lay claim to this timeless design, I did tweak some of the measurements to suit my own sensibilities

The wood is pressure-treated pine, which will last a very long time, and put together with galvanized hardware

All of the screw heads are hidden with hardwood dowels, glued and sanded smooth

The Table

(just to cap it off)

I liked the bar so much that I decided to make this picnic table, also created from bottle caps. When arranging the caps, I found that six caps fit neatly around a single cap in a circle.

That led to a six-sided design and the Star of David. Fitting, although with apologies to my Jewish relatives, we call this one "The Star of Dave"

I liked the the Idea of the coffee table height so you can sit back and put your feet up

The table top is removable and drops down into its hexagonal base (in keeping with the six-sided approach) complete with lower shelf and hole to secure the umbrella. Like everything I build, strength is key, and this table will support a great deal of weight.
Like the bar, it's been danced on

I recently replaced the original mantel over the fireplace, which was just
a simple board and some quarter-round molding, with something a little nicer.
Here's a slideshow of the step-by-step process

Mantel project-01	Mantel project-02
Mantel project-03	Mantel project-04
Mantel project-05	Mantel project-06
Mantel project-07	Mantel project-08
Mantel project-09	Mantel project-10
Mantel project-11	Mantel project-12
Mantel project-13	Mantel project-14
Mantel project-15	Mantel project-16
Mantel project-17	Mantel project-18
Mantel project-19